Photos I Wish I Had Taken: Golden Morning by Elmar Weiss

I was destined to post an image with penguins in it today. I’m certain of it. I could feel the mystical powers of my subconscious hard at work, leading me inevitably to this moment.

A few days ago, I watched March of the Penguins, and was completely enamoured. Today, New York City is a scene from an arctic nightmare. The sky is dark and ominous and we’re being deluged by sleet, snow and hail in rapid succession.

Last night, my friend Sherry, a great travel blogger and the creator of Ottsworld, and I discussed her recent trip to Antarctica. She’d been posting her penguin photos from her trip on Facebook and I was taken by how the birds were equally adorable and goofy—their tuxedo suits and clown feet guaranteed to deliver a smile.

Cue this morning, and I’m looking through photos online and I come across this image by photographer, Elmar Weiss entitled Golden Morning, and I had to post it.

The colors first caught my attention. The light blues and oranges, an unusual yet spectacular combination, juxtaposed to the graphic black and white (and red-beaked) penguins are a showstopper. I love the jagged diagonal lines created by the light hitting the beach and how they are echoed by the reflections of the penguins in the surf.

I found myself grinning as I looked at the little bowling pin bodies earnestly rushing toward the water, their flippers spread out like a toddler bursting to play. In my head, I heard them screaching with a squawk resembling a New Year’s Eve noisemaker, “Woohoo! We’re going to swim! We’re going to swim!”

It’s a visually arresting picture with a light comical air. An unusual combo. How wonderful it must have been to see this in person.

That penguin photo is remarkable! It creates a feeling of sympathy also because those particular penguins are on such a journey together. 🙂 As far as that film, I did see it but was so mortified and saddened by how the one little penguin was attacked, that I have not been able to watch it again. :/

Spectacular photograph! My 13 year old son is obsessed with penguins which has rubbed off on me a little insofar as I have decided they are entirely adorable. I, therefore, would have enjoyed this photograph just for the presence of the waddling penguins alone. However, what elevates this image is the strength of the composition – that wiggling vertical line between the colours intersected by the horizontal line of penguins – and the use of colour, from the graphic black and white of the penguins to the use of the complementary colours of orange and blue. Wonderful stuff.

I wonder also about the rejects. This one has the light/colors just perfect, the movement of the penguins, as you say, bursting with enthusiasm.
At the same time, it reminds me of a TV commercial for the French satellite channel Canal Plus. If you google March of the Emperor (the title in French), you’ll see. Hilarious. I’m laughing just remembering it.